The Maharajah who died Young

Maharajah Bhupinder is famous as a flamboyant lover, sportsman and statesman. However his father maharajah Rajender Singh is generally overlooked. I feel he was a great man who would have risen to great heights in case he had not died young at the age of 28 in a riding accident.

Maharajah Rajender Singh was born in 1872 and was a great lover of horses and an excellent polo player. It’s a pity that the game caused his death as well. Rajender Singh was the first Indian to own a car in 1892, which was a French Dion- Bouten. The maharajah was also adept at other games and played cricket, billiards and hockey. He was not a man confined to the chair.

Rajender Singh was a very progressive man and was awarded the Grand cross of the star of India by the British government for bravery. The maharajah also set up orphanages and gave large donations to women’s hospitals. He also trained his army to be at par with the British Indian army.

The maharajah however had a weakness for women. This is not a failing I will say, but a natural outlet for a healthy man. But his sexual prowess must have been immense as he had collected 365 wives. Many of the girls were picked up by his roving eye and selected for his chamber and marriage.

The maharajah fell in love with the daughter of his horse master who was a highly paid Englishman. He expressed a desire to marry the English girl. The horse master agreed and the maharajah in meetings with the English girl so charmed her that she converted to Sikhism and married the maharajah.

There is also a chance that Maharajah Rajender Singh was the man who seduced the viceroy’s daughter from scandal point in Simla. Though people say it was his son Bhupinder Singh but evidence favors Rajender Singh. India was a colorful place with the maharajas and that was an era which is now gone into history.